Most Trusted Brands 2013: How HUL takes the fall and rise of its brands

According to Bakshi the mantra for success and trust is three pronged: brands ought to be based on a real emotional benefit, they ought to be consistent and paradoxically they need to constantly evolve.

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For most marketers, going down from 9 brands in the Top 20 last year to 5 in 2013 would be cause for introspection. Not so for Hindustan Unilever. Three of its brands are in the Top 5; Dove has moved a remarkable 16 places to 21 and Kissan is among the survey's biggest climbers, from 141 to 64.

With the exception of Kissan, its top gainers come from the home and personal care space. So do some of its biggest losers this year like Pepsodent, Fair & Lovely and Rin, all of whom have been jettisoned out of the Top 20, but more on them in a bit.

Speaking of the rise of HUL brands, Hemant Bakshi, executive director - home and personal care at Hindustan Unilever says, "The performance is not the result of something we've done in the recent past. These are all iconic brands and the people who came before us should get credit."

According to Bakshi the mantra for success and trust is three pronged: brands ought to be based on a real emotional benefit, they ought to be consistent and paradoxically they need to constantly evolve. Keeping its brands in this space has required HUL to view consumers more holistically: not just as buyers of products but as human beings. Bakshi admits "We acknowledge with all humility that the brands play only a small part in their lives. We keep teaching our marketers that great marketing happens when logic and magic meet."

By way of example, Lifebuoy faced the logistic hurdle of reaching its target audience in TV dark areas. Where magic comes in is deciding to reach them via messages printed on a roti as happened at the Kumbh Mela earlier this year.

Clinic Plus, he believes, is a great example of a brand contemporising itself. While it has always focused on the mother daughter relationship, the more recent ads mirror societal changes. From being a protector, the mother is now an enabler. Says Bakshi, "We are now talking about 'Girna Mana Hai' (Falling is Forbidden) an expression of functional benefit as well as being emotional — about not stumbling as you get into adulthood."

As for the decline of Pepsodent, Fair & Lovely and Rin, he is not unduly concerned. He believes, "One shouldn't get too happy about movements up and shouldn't assume a few places down is a huge loss. Having said that, these are iconic brands and the work on them is as good as on the others."

However marketing consultant Harish Bijoor has his own take on why these brands could have lost traction. Large chunks of HUL's portfolio have moved beyond merely talking about functional benefits and stand for a lot more. In Bijoor's opinion, the brands that made this transformation have done the best. He says, "Fair & Lovely has become a mother segment. It's the world's largest selling bleach; it can only lose since every new player is coming in to corner a niche. It has not embarked on anything inclusive and that remains its weakness."

Pepsodent is fighting a well entrenched leader, but is not driven by a particularly inclusive story. "Once brands tell these stories, they move higher in the trust stakes for consumers. Everything in marketing needs to move towards these positive strokes — of looking after the world," concludes Bijoor.

Which explains in part Unilever's Project Sunlight: an umbrella branding initiative that encourages consumers to ally with brands in the FMCG giant's portfolio with the lofty aims of making the world a better place. India is among the launch markets for Project Sunlight and the response has been greater than what HUL anticipated.

Asked if this is likely to have an impact on trust scores in future surveys, Bakshi says, "What's really important is an insight: when you have a kid you begin thinking about sustainability. More consumers want to know the company behind the brand. If we are known to have a larger purpose, it will lead to trust but that's not why we are doing this. It's because it is the right thing to do."